Top 10 Best Experiences While Busking EVER……

Yuri Lemeshev of Gogol Bordello.

Top 10 Best Experiences While Busking EVER……

1. Why it just so happens I met my lovely lady Stephanie while busking! Best tip I ever got!

2. Meeting Gogol Bordello while busking outside the Norva. Before the show I did see Eugene Hutz- regrettably I admit I froze and other than saying, "Hey" I just froze. I know- I'm an idiot! Lol. Luckily I did not repeat this mistake all night. I met pretty much met the entire band- including- their accordionist Yuri Lemeshev! I actually met a good chunk of the band both before and after the show- while I was busking before the show he said to me, "Sounds good" and nodded- I was kind've afraid to say much at the time- I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally starstruck.

Jason Webley!

After the show, I met Yuri again with Sergey Ryabtsev their violinist. Sergey is sooooo funny and cool- he's really full of personality- HE FREAKED OUT when I asked him to sign my CD of their first album,"Voi-La Intruder" (which for any of you remember that wonderful place while it was there- I picked up one day at Relative Theory Records! UGH! I miss that place!)- he was like, "Oh my God! I can't believe you have this!! We have to get Yuri in on this one! YURI!!!!!" I'm pretty sure what he meant was that because of the whole Mysapce craze at the time with their song, "Start Wearing Purple" (though that song is also on the first album- the version that mostly came into the public eye was the Underdog Worldstrike one) and their latest album at that time (my personal favorite so far to date!), "Super Taranta!"- so they were really excited and surprised to see someone asking them to sign the old one. Later the other band members signed my copy of Super Taranta- it's a memorable night I'll never forget- Gogol Bordello- along with Korpiklaani, Beirut, Flogging Molly, and some other bands- they are one of THE MAIN REASONS I was inspired to start playing accordion.

3. Meeting the Drowningmen and getting into their show for free w/Moneybrother and Flogging Molly on the Green 17 Tour. Unforgettable night.

4. Meeting Jason Webley before he played at the Taphouse in Norfolk, VA. He came up to me and introduced himself and was really nice (he looked much different in person- as he had short hair- and every photograph I had seen of him was with long hair) I made really nice tips that night and used it to buy his records- and he put me on the guest list and got me in his show for free.

w/Aly aka Lady Lamb.

He was a really great guy- not just as a musician- but it was great to get the feeling that he actually cared and was enthusiastic to talk to the fans. His performance by the way- was incredibly memorable- and he has the greatest commanding ability of forcing everyone to just shout and scream along even if they don't know the words. He does a lot of neat fun audience participation in challenging one half of the room to be louder than the other. He does some cool accordion improv- he lets the audience pick songs sometimes for him too- that night he did a cool 80s pop song improv- people just shouted them out and he'd think about it for about 2 split seconds- and start playing whatever songs people called out. Instead of that whole audience worshipping the performer vibe- he creates a different vibe where its like a big party and he's the life of it- musically impressing and hanging out with everyone.

5. Meeting Aly Spaltro (aka Lady Lamb and the Beekeeper)- she offered to get me in the Beirut concert for free- though I already had a ticket, I had a neat chat with her. She put on an incredible opening act! Though only slightly an odd pairing with Beirut (I can't explain why)- she is incredibly captivating- I can often lose interest in watching the lone-singer-songwriter on a guitar- but she had the whole room in the palm of her hand.

Similar to the tattoo the girl on Colley had...

Though this second part didn't really occur because of busking it's still awesome- that same night after the show Zach Condon of Beirut signed my record and said, "That's a very nice accordion". I told him I was surprised that their accordionist, Perrin Cloutier was playing a chromatic button accordion since all the photos I'd seen of their live shots before showed him using a piano accordion- and he goes, "Yeah he recently switched/learned button too- he locked himself in a room for a week" lol though that was brief it was totally awesome. I also met Luke also shortly approximately around this time I think (because I know I've mentioned seeing Beirut before to them all) and then he introduced me to Hunter and John and later on we had Nate aboard- and that's part of how our band met. : )

6. The second time I got to see Drowningmen live when they were touring with Alkaline Trio- while busking outside- Matt Chapin who plays trumpet in Mewithoutyou came up to me and showed me this really awesome huge accordion tattoo on his arm and struck up a neat conversation with me when he said, "That's awesome man- check this out- my grandfather played accordion!" Also while busking after the show was over- people were super nice and excited and into the accordion tunes- their spirits were so high after Alkaline Trio finished up.

7. Improv jamming with various friends/people in the street- Aaron Evans (glockenspiel & guitar) & Mike Twark (drums)- good guys, Wes Sutherland- good harmonica player- always had fun hanging out with Wes- we'd hang out a bit both go hit a corner- and meet up again later- I miss seein' him around- I hope he makes it into a blues band someday- it'd be the perfect fit! Charles from DJ P & Mr. T on violin- I love that guy! He's so nice- and he kills it at the violin- unfortunately we only got to jam together a few times- one time at this cafe together with this guy on tables and the energy was just really clicking'…. various other strangers- a guy who played spoons, a guy who juggled……

8. Another tattoo: this was incredibly funny and cool- busking on Colley avenue- this girl walks up to me and flexes her arm (but she had to use her other hand to jokingly push her "muscle" up- she was a tiny thing lol) and its a tattoo of an accordion and says, "Squeeze this!" lol so awesome. Before that it was just an ordinary day lol.

9. Busking in Williamsburg- early morning before Accordion Festival once- and then later that year before a Reckless Passengers gig at William & Mary: ) 

10. Getting hired for various gigs- some weddings, a French speaking club, Valentines Day, and some restaurant gigs all from giving my number to people in the street who liked what they heard- being fortunate to find a gig for the first 4 months I moved to Alexandria too. : )